The Senate successfully passed bills to fix the VA and fund the Highway Trust Fund, but failed to pass a bill address the flood of migrant children at the border.

WASHINGTON, Aug. 1 (UPI) -- The Senate passed two key pieces of legislation in a late night session Thursday, sending a fix for the Department of Veterans Affairs and a highway funding patch to the president for signature, while a measure to address the border crisis failed.

Later, the Senate passed a patch for the Highway Trust Fund, which had ping-ponged between the two chambers as Democrats and Republicans argued over how to offset the spending and how long it should go.

Ultimately, the Senate voted 81-13 to pass the $10.8 billion patch approved by the House that provides crucial funding for transportation and infrastructure projects through next spring. On Wednesday, it had passed a smaller measure meant to expire in December, which would have forced Congress to take up the issue again during the lame-duck session.

The thinking goes that Congress could more likely pass a long-term fix after the partisan furor of elections have passed and before the new session begins. But Republicans, hoping to take control of the Senate, object to lame-duck legislation that would reflex Democrats' higher-tax, higher-federal involvement priorities.

Despite their otherwise productive Thursday evening, the Senate failed to pass a $2.7 billion bill to give the administration emergency funding to handle the humanitarian crisis at the border.

Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., killed the bill when he raised a budget point of order, which requires 60 votes to overcome. Every Republican, and Democrats Mary Landrieu of Louisiana and Joe Manchin of West Virginia, voted against it.